I. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a saddle arrangement for riding or carrying other loads.
The primary function of a saddle has been to stabilize and to make it more comfortable for a rider to sit on the back of an animal. Today, many horses are withdrawn from riding due to irritations and incurable back injury caused by saddle use. Typically, a saddle forms a padded seat comprising a firm frame, or saddle tree, which is strapped around the back of the animal. The saddle most commonly used today is the English type wherein the saddle is built around a frame referred to as a saddle tree, which is made of wood, steel, or a similar material. The saddle may be internally padded with wool or a synthetic fabric.
II. Description of the Related Art
Recently, there has been an increasing focus on the use of saddles and impact thereof on animals, and a number of studies have been conducted to investigate the effect of the saddle on the animal as the saddle is the one equipment that has the most impact on the comfort of animals when used for riding. These studies have shown that animals may develop unnatural movement patterns and suffer severe injuries in the form of muscular impairment and escape, inter alia, and also experience pain during and after riding caused by the use of saddles. Additionally, the animal may loose its flexibility and suppleness in the back and in other limbs. The blood supply of the muscles and the muscle movements are highly restrained by the saddle, being a static constriction across the back (FIG. 5). This is particularly impairing if the saddle does not fit the animal perfectly, so that the weight is distributed over a smaller area and applies point pressure. This may cause the back of the animal to deform and result in unnatural movements as a direct consequence of the saddle use. This could lead to permanent injury that also affects other parts of the body, and may among other things cause lameness,
The back of a quadruped animal is comprised of elastic and rigid parts, the vertebral column, a long series of rigid segments supported by neighboring muscles and tissue to achieve stability and freedom of movement. The elastic parts of a back require extensive muscular control, and for an animal used for riding, it is the muscles that are the most vulnerable and exposed to injury. The back of an animal is not naturally built for carrying weight. In fact, the back of a horse is poorly adapted for carrying weight as this region doesn't have the same layers of fat as other parts of the body, causing the load to cause strain directly on the muscles extending across the back of the animal. The muscles of the animal must be continuously be supplied with energy in order to function properly, this being achieved by the transport of oxygen and nourishment through the blood circulation. When increasing the blood circulation of the muscles, the muscles will grow and the back of the animal will become stronger and have more carrying capacity. A muscle needs to stretch and retract, which is important in order for the muscle to resist the stress. One of the biggest problems for animals used in riding, is that it is a large static pressure or stress is applied in the muscles in movement and acting underneath the saddle. The static stress in the muscle may reduce the blood supply therein, causing pain and possibly muscle atrophy. Studies have shown that a surface pressure of more than 1.5 PSI for more than 2 hours renders the heart unable to pump a sufficient amount of blood through the muscles exposed, causing cells in these regions to die. This results in swells, bruises, and tenderness in the exposed regions. These problems aggravate if the saddle doesn't fit the animal properly, so that the weight of the rider is concentrated at very small areas. Additionally, a rigid saddle will impair the natural movements of the animal, with the result being that the animal strenuously and in an unnatural manner tries to adapt to the saddle, loosing its original flexibility and natural movement pattern. The fit across the shoulders of the horse is the most important, as the movements of this region are large; in this region the injuries caused by the current saddle designs is seen in that the saddle is adapted, after which the animal changes shape or muscles and the saddle becomes too constricting and adds a large pressure on the shoulders to cause point stresses. By having an easy to use width adjustment means that can be accessed and adjusted each time the animal is to be used, the use of a too constricting saddle can be avoided and the saddle may also be safely used on different horses so that it is not necessary to buy a new saddle for each horse and to buy a new saddle should the horse change shape through a change of weight and/or musculature. The saddle is supposed to distribute the weight of the rider over the greatest area possible without breaking with anatomical fitting rules for a well-conforming saddle. This relates to how well the saddle fits the animal and how large a surface that is seated in the saddle. Further, the fit across the shoulders is essential for the conformity of the saddle, in particular with respect to comfort and the prevention of injuries.
The natural movements of the animal will always be affected by the application of unnatural pressure or constrictions on the anatomical function of the animal, and the goal is to interfere with the natural movements of the animal to the smallest extent possible. For the rider it is important that the animal maintains a natural movement pattern, so as to have a healthy animal with good movements. The animal then has more load carrying ability and is less exposed to injuries/pain that makes the movements unnatural, rigid, and less comfortable for the rider.
In principle, the saddle must be adapted to accommodate the animal and the buttocks of the rider, putting very differing demands on the shape, conformity and function. The main problem is that the back of the animal is moving while at the same the rider must have sufficient stability in the saddle.
Saddle fitting is a difficult task, as it requires a lot of work to have the saddle modified. A lot of time, tools and additional parts are required, or a completely new saddle may be adapted, which is costly in any case. The current methods for modifying the saddle width usually are based on standard sizes, including particular size levels such as small, medium, large, etc., which may be a problem in the case of an animal that falls outside these levels or the animal has a dip, muscular atrophy, or otherwise changed shape. The horse may change its body shape rapidly due to changes in musculature through growth, exercise, change of diet, or seasonal variations. Therefore, a well conforming saddle is difficult to achieve with the current saddles. Additionally, the current saddles are not favorable with respect to being used with several animals. The saddle fit is such an important aspect of the comfort of the animal that the saddle should be able to be accurately adjusted and adapted to each single individual. The animal may suffer a dip at the shoulders if the saddle is constricting or applies pressure, which causes great pain and may permanently deform the animal. There is a great variability and individuality in the shoulder anatomy between different animals, with some individuals being very wide in the shoulder region whereas others may have a very slender shoulder region and still others may ha a dip caused by an injury due to the careless use of saddle. This is a reason why it is advised against using the same saddle on different animals. However, the fact still remains that an animal often “inherits” a saddle, or that a saddle is “borrowed” from another animal. Therefore, it may be concluded that a conventional saddle never really will be optimal, even not for the animal to which the saddle was originally fit.
A quadruped animal has a spine consisting of a column of dorsal vertebrae. In the saddle area of a horse, about 18 vertebrae will be located underneath the saddle. Each vertebra has its degree of flexibility. A horse has a total of 56 vertebrae having a varying degree of flexibility and freedom of movement.
When a horse moves, the vertebra will move relative to each other to form complicated movement patterns that a conventional saddle is not able to follow or accommodate. A horse makes muscular movements that are different on each side of the spine, and these are essential for the biomechanical functionality and atletism of the animal. As the saddle tree is the most essential part of a saddle, if the saddle tree does not fit the back of the horse, then the saddle doesn't fit either. A saddle tree is supposed to conform to the horse when the horse is moving, and it is supposed to position the rider correctly on the horse. FIGS. 5 and 6 show a hest bending sideways from the longitudinal direction. When the horse bends as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, a conventional rigid saddle tree will restrict the natural bending movement of the horse as the conventional saddle tree doesn't accommodate the bending movement.
FIG. 2 shows how the back bow of a horse may look. The shoulder region is raised and leads down to a lower point between dorsal vertebrae 14 and 18, after which the back bow runs upwardly towards the hind region of the horse. The three back regions of the horse have very differing shapes, functions, and muscular structures. Different paces and movement patterns result in separate and unsynchronized movements of the different back regions.
A conventional rigid saddle tree is not shaped in accommodation to each individual part of the functions and movement patterns of the back regions. Thus, at some point the saddle tree will place restrictions and apply pressure to the movement and back of the animal, see FIG. 5. Also, a conventional saddle tree doesn't position the rider in an optimal position relative to the back bow of the horse. A rigid conventional saddle tree will cause undesirable points of pressure application on the back of the horse. This is often compensated by means of gel or other materials in an attempt to modify the shape of the conventional saddle tree.
The U.S. Pat. No. 2,353,622 shows a saddle design wherein an attempt has been made to make the saddle flexible by fitting two additional parts to a conventional saddle by means of ball joints. Said two parts are connected by the use of flexible straps or belts on each side of the backbone of the horse. However, the saddle design according to U.S. Pat. No. 2,353,622 causes undesirable points of contact because it includes a conventional rigid saddle tree. As a consequence, the saddle fails to follow the movements of the animal and hence restricts the movement pattern of the horse. Moreover, this saddle design may also cause injury to the horse in that the saddle has to be correctly fit in order to function properly. Furthermore, the saddle tree according to U.S. Pat. No. 2,353,622 has no means of width adjustment pursuant to changes in shape and muscular structure of the animal and may not be adapted for other animals. If the saddle tree of U.S. Pat. No. 2,353,622 is not wide enough to fit across the back of the horse, this saddle will inflict the same injury to the animal as the ones described above. Also, the saddle design according to U.S. Pat. No. 2,353,622 adds more height than desirable as the saddle tree is not modified directly, but instead additional parts are added in order to make the saddle tree more movable. Additional parts and complex mechanisms also add to the manufacturing cost of the product.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,274,986 discloses re-padding of an essentially conventional rigid saddle tree. This saddle tree includes no means of adaptation and needs to have a certain thickness in order to not bend under the weight of the rider, increasing the stiffness of the saddle tree. According to U.S. Pat. No. 5,274,986, the saddle tree is designed for being able to conform to the contour and movement of the animal, but if the saddle tree is already too constricting, additional padding will just make the saddle even more constricting. Additionally, compensating with additional padding will increase the weight and height of the saddle. The rider is positioned further away from the horse than necessary. Also, additional padding is conducive to the generation of heat underneath the saddle, which is uncomfortable and also causes the formation of girth galls. Additional parts and padding also add to the manufacturing cost of the product.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,434,915 relates to a saddle having no saddle tree, wherein the saddle is made of soft materials such as foam rubber and flexible leather to make the saddle fit. The disadvantage of having a saddle with no saddle tree is that it is necessary to compensate for the missing saddle tree with a lot of additional padding, causing the rider to be seated higher up and further forward on the animal than desired and also an extensive generation of heat underneath the saddle which is not conducted away. With all material being compliant, a maximum pressure relief and pressure distribution is not achieved and the construction becomes lumped. Such a tree-less saddle may not be used for show-jumping due to the insufficient pressure relief and inadequate support for the rider, but may only be used for easy tour riding.
As mentioned above, conventional saddle trees have primarily been constructed with a rigid structure. It has been attempted to adjust the rigid structure by the use of gel inserts and similar padding materials to make the saddle conform to the shape and movement of the horseback after an injury has been detected in the back of a horse that has been ridden with a conventional saddle tree. Attempts have been made to make the saddle tree more flexible and movable by using different materials such as spun glass and the like and by adding additional moveable parts underneath the saddle tree. Attempts have also been made to dispose of the entire rigid saddle tree. So far, nobody has addressed the saddle tree itself to make changes thereof to make it movable and adaptable, making it conform to the shape of the animal each time the saddle is to be used and accommodate all the natural movements of the horse.